Jun 03 2020

The Global Group-work Internship of the G-DORM short-term exchange program on which the Faculty of Engineering, Niigata University and Tsubamate, a Public Interest Incorporated Association, work together won the "Award of Excellence" at the 3rd "Internship Awards Selected by Students" organized by Mynavi Corporation.

"Internship Awards Selected by Students" is one of the largest internship awards in Japan to recognize internship programs that have contributed to students' social and professional independence. This time, which was the third time, 482 programs from 361 corporations throughout Japan competed for the awards. One corporation won the Grand Prix and another won the Minister of Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Award followed by Niigata University that was selected as one of the six "Award of Excellence" winners. This was the first award won by a university after higher education institutions could enter the competition.

The Faculty of Engineering, Niigata University has conducted short-term (about 10 days), mid-term (2 months) and long-term (6-12 months) student exchange programs in collaboration with four universities in the Mekong region as part of the Inter-University Exchange Project "Co-creative Dormitory-type Group-work for SciTech Students in Japan and Mekong Countries with Regional Collaboration" (G-DORM).

The award we won this time was for the GW Internship that was the main activity of our short-term exchange program implemented in August 2019 under the title "Internship on Global Business Development in Tsubame City" worked together with Tsubamate, which works on industrial promotion with the municipality of Tsubame City. Six groups consisting of 17 international students from four partner universities in the Mekong region and 11 Niigata University students conducted group works to propose solutions to the problems presented by each company in GW Internship for which six companies in the Tsubame area worked in concert. The points evaluated in this award were to establish a hypothesis in advance and make a proposal after verifying the hypothesis through hands-on experience, to enhance pre-study based on the fundamental competencies for working persons, and to build close relationships with local companies.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to Tsubamate as well as the administrations and companies in Tsubame City for their great support and cooperation in implementing this award program.

[References]
- The website of the G-DORM Project
- G-DORM Short-term Exchange Program in Niigata (Posted on Sep 24, 2019)